Statement from Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, CEO and executive director of MomsRising, an online and on-the-ground organization of more than one million mothers and their families, on President Trump’s remarks this evening:

“Tonight, President Trump misled and told outright lies in an attempt to pressure Congress to appropriate funds for a border wall the country doesn’t want and doesn’t need. Once again, he put his perceived political interests ahead of the best interests of the country and of our children and families. In his quest to build a wall to satisfy his shrinking political base, the President has misused the military, misstated the facts and done his best to foment hostility toward immigrants and asylum-seekers.

“The moms of America don’t buy Trump’s lies, don’t buy his hate mongering, and don’t buy his wall. We are greater than the fear that Trump is spreading. Tonight’s remarks were an insult to the American people and a misuse of the White House bully pulpit. He once again cherry-picked the crimes he shares and victims he cares about, while failing to even mention the young lives needlessly lost while being held in U.S. detention centers. This is shameful. Congress must stand strong against Trump’s bullying and reject his disgraceful, anti-immigrant scare tactics.

"It is unforgivable that hundreds of thousands of federal employees and contractors are already suffering because this President refuses to sign off on a budget that will keep the government running unless Congress funds his wall. America’s moms do not want Congress to fund a wasteful, unnecessary border wall. We want the government to reopen so hard-working federal employees can do their work and receive their paychecks, and not have to wonder how they are going to pay for food, housing, medicine and childcare.

“Despite the Trump Administration’s lies and scare tactics, we are not afraid of the moms and children who seek asylum here. We know our country has the capacity to process asylum-seekers and that the wall is a distraction, not a solution. We want our tax dollars used for education, health care, job training, housing and other essential services, not to fund a wall or support Trump’s callous anti-immigration policies.

“We need comprehensive, compassionate immigration policies, not walls and force used against asylum-seeking children and families. The moms of America want every member of Congress from both parties to stand up to the President, reopen the government, and refuse to fund a wall or tolerate the separation of families or the use of tear gas against asylum-seeking children and parents.”

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.